You can check your speedo cal in two ways (then average results): First, time yourself between interstate highway mile markers, and, secondly, compare your speed to the display-radar set up in some neighborhoods. In my case, they agreed pretty well.

I purchased my 2007 Ford Freestyle SEL new in March 2007. It is FWD with a V6. It's now time for me to purchase a new set of tires. I need advice on what tire is best suited for my needs. I live in central Alabama and have 43,445 miles on them. Needless, to say we do NOT get much snow down in the Southeast! However, we have been getting QUITE a bit of rain lately. Temperatures vary. If you don't like the weather, just wait till the afternoon! We had 113 degrees the summer of 07 and then a little snow a couple months ago! I've kept the oil changed and tires rotated every 5k miles and happy for the most part with my Freestyle. The only exception would be when I had to have the brakes totally redone within the first year. Ford never advised of this dangerous issue with the brakes and the service tech for the dealership never mentioned the recall to us either. We talked to the Service Manager due to the expensive quote to fix brakes on vehicle less than a year old. By a miracle, the manager discovered there had been a recall due to issues with the brakes on the Freestyle so almost all the cost was covered by Ford. By reading everyone's comments on this site, I have faired really well mileage-wise on the original Continentals. However, the service tech at the dealership just advised my tire tread depths are 2/32 on the front and 3/32 on the rear and in the "red-zone". My husband has confirmed it's time to look for new tires, however we are having to watch our pennies too! From previous posts, should I assume that I should be looking at changing to a 225/65/17 tire? Will this give me a smoother ride and less road noise? (I have definitely noticed an increase in both these areas.) My Freestyle is what I drive to work and also the vehicle we take all the family road-trips in to horse shows or auto races! The tech suggests putting Contis as the most affordable, but the Michelin Hydroedge for more mileage ("up to 60k-80k"). We purchased various different brands over the years, ranging from Hankook to Michelin or GoodYear. This is the first time I've actually done any research on this topic and would appreciate any suggestions before I get mislead into buying the wrong tire for my vehicle.Thanks for being such a good source of good information! Bewildered in Birmingham :confuse:

runningwalk,Definitely Goodyear Fuel Max ( TireRack web page view of it -- click here. The 225/65-17 size works great. You could stick with the 215/65-17, but the 225 width is a small improvement on my Freestyle. That Fuel Max tire has all the great specs, and is the latest feat of engineering from Goodyear. Very exciting technology there, not old tech at all. Very good in rain with new computer optimizations done on the tread shape.

The tirerack.com, where I usually get my tires (or from a local Discount Tire store, who will match tirerack.com's price) has Freestyle 225/65-17 Fuel Max tires for $103. Four will cost $412. After that, over the life of the tire, if you get a conservative 3% better MPG fuel economy, thats equivalent to about 7.5 cents per gallon of gas purchased discount. You save about $142 dollars on a Freestyle ( average 21 MPG, assume tires go 40,000 miles). Therefore, the true cost of Fuel Max tires is about $100 less than $412, or $312. Its $100 because of the interest rate penalty for spreading the savings out over 3 or 4 years of the tire's life.

Also, thats money that never made it into the hands of Hugo Chavez or the Saudis. Thats the best part.

Goodyear claims 8% when the tire is new at highway speeds using SAE tests, and 4% average over the life, but they don't take into account the fact that as the tire wears, it gradually loses some of its advantage, so I claim its really 3% over the tire life. And, even though its a 65,000 mile warrantied tire, many will trade them in at around 40,000 miles.

Best way to view it is that you get about a 7 cents per gallon of gasoline discount every time you fill up if you have Fuel Max tires. It helps. I gave a presentation at an SAE meeting last May where I went through all the individual engineering improvements possible invented or refined over the past few years, and we noted that, combined, average cars can get about 20% more efficient by doing relatively easy things, and the Fuel Max tire is one of them.